project_lazarusfandomcom-20200214-history
User blog:Tehblakdeath/Project Lazarus: Gun Ranking
So, this is it: a quick ranking to generally summarize my thoughts on the guns of Project Lazarus, right? It's a simple enough breakdown: the weaponry of Project Lazarus is very distinct, have varied playstyles, and with 28 different ones, you have plenty of options to comb through. However, which guns are truly the best to a high-round player? In this blog post, I'm aiming to take into account some reasons as to why some guns truly do have advantages over others. This list will take into account four different factors; first, how effective the gun is; second, how deep its ammunition pool is; third, how well it fits into its niche (as in, LMG or Assault Rifle); and finally, how the gun compares to the rest of its class. Until the completion of this list, each tier should be uploaded once daily, from F to S+ (which, spoiler alert, will be the Ray Gun and the best non-wonder weapon). Please remember that this list is opinion-based! You are more than welcome to enjoy some of the guns I have ranked low, and more than welcome to dislike the ones I have ranked high. With that said, it is high time I get into this list and begin breaking down what makes a gun truly good in this game. Original List: June 25th, 2019 28-27 (F-Tier): Bad. Just...bad. #28: B93 Raffica At #28, ladies and gentlemen, we have the Ray Gun, objectively the worst gun in Pr- Nah, I'm just kidding. Let's face it: the B93 really doesn't have much in the way of success going for it aside from its reload speed and stock ammo pool. I can cut the gun some slack, however: the B93 is, after all, a starting room weapon, and at 500 points to purchase and 250 points to refill its rather large stock ammunition pool, it's a cheap, effective early-round solution. The key word here is that it's an early-round solution. In my testing for this ranking, by around round 9 or 10, the B93, despite its three-shot burst capabilities, instantly drops off, taking about 6 to 9 bullets at close range to end up killing a single zombie. With a low penetration power, the bullets will often not even hit any zombies behind the player's target. This heavily cripples the B93's success rate. However, what digs this success rate a grave and buries it alive for me is that the B93 is a burst weapon, and not just a burst weapon, but a pistol as well. While it is most definitely not obvious as of right now, I personally cannot stand burst weaponry in any game. I find burst weapons to be a waste of ammunition due to the fact that it often will only take one or two rounds instead of the typical burst of three or four rounds to actually get your kill, giving you a net loss of ammunition. This philosophy applies to the early-round usage of the B93: until round 7 or 8, you only need one or two of its actual bullets to get your kill, rather than three bullets as we get in the burst. When it hits that three-round mark, it only lasts for about 2 actual rounds, before it begins to taper off again. While I suppose this can seem entirely like a personal argument, there is no denying that burst weapons such as the B93 often do end up wasting quite a bit of your ammo pool due to their burst effects. When compared to the rest of the guns in the Handguns class, in terms of pure firepower, the B93 only ends up above the starting pistol, the Beretta M9 due to its three-round burst capabilities. While the TEC-9 and Glock 17 technically do have lower 1HK (one-hit kill) rounds than the B93, this is due to the burst that the B93 has to offer. Considering the TEC-9 is a fully-automatic pistol that could almost be argued as more of a submachine gun, and that the Glock 17 has a higher ammunition pool with the same clip size as the B93, I'd rank them both above the B93 in terms of their sheer power. Due to these factors, the B93 is considered by me to be the worst gun in Project Lazarus. #27: Beretta M9 You couldn't have expected these to get much further, right? I'll make my thoughts on this brief, as I'm sure we all know about why this gun is here and I don't think I need to justify my arguments as much as I would have to with other weapons in this rankdown, especially this early on. The Beretta, being the starting pistol, is in no way anticipated to be strong. In fact, I think anyone reading this may have very well expected to see it here in the first place, although probably even below the B93. However, in my eyes, what brings the M9 higher than the B93 is the ability to control your shots with more ease despite its low ammo pool. In fact, ration your ammo well enough, and you can easily farm points with it and the knife up until around round 5 or 6 with relative ease. Anyways, I don't have much else to say about the Beretta. I think it's obvious why it's this low in the first place. 26-23 (E-Tier): The Mediocre-Poor #26: Ranger The Ranger: a gun that I heavily debated over the inclusion of in this tier or in the one below it. I truly struggled to decide where I should put the weakest shotgun, and in the end, I decided it was more warranted to go here. The Ranger's definitely a gun that warrants a spot in E-Tier, and this is why. Let's get the positives out of the way first: the Ranger is a shotgun. What kind of American doesn't love a shotgun? It is the most bald eagle, stripes and stars thing there is aside from those things themselves. I'm not even American and a double-barreled shotgun brings tears to my eyes. And also other parts of my body, because the pellets of the Ranger truly pack a punch. Up until around round 8 with Double Tap, the Ranger is a one-shot to the head at close range. From there to about round 11 or 12, it takes two shots to the head, and from there it tapers off. The Ranger also has a very quick reload speed due to only having to load two rounds, which is done very quickly, especially with Speed Cola. However, that's about where the positives end. See, the Ranger is a shotgun: thus, it isn't a point getter. It has very low penetration at high damage, and thus it gives back very little points. One might say this counterbalances with it being a cheap wall weapon at 500 points, but I disagree. When it comes to the long term survival in Project Lazarus, points are key to staying alive round after round. Thus, the Ranger heavily limits what you can do due to its low point return. Another issue I have with the Ranger is its dropoff, being rather sudden. While this is partly due to being a double-barrel, it is also due to it being a shotgun, which is objectively one of the weaker categories in the game due to their low fire rate, point distribution, and lack of effectiveness on high rounds. In the end, it is these weaknesses that place the Ranger down here. #25: M14 The M14 is an interesting weapon because, of all the starter weapons, it is one of only two that serve a use beyond round 10 or so, still being fairly decent in the midgame. It has a decent ammo pool, a good clip size, and great use in the early game. Somehow, the M14 manages to be pretty good throughout most of an average Project Lazarus game. Obviously, however, it has to have drawbacks, because otherwise, it'd be a lot higher up, right? Well, yes, but actually, no. The drawbacks are all parts of its niche. For example, the M14 is a semi-automatic assault rifle, which means it has, relative to other guns in the game, a low fire rate, thus by Occam's razor making it a worse choice when you have hundreds of zombies per round. It also has a certain point where it loses its effectiveness due to the overwhelming amount of aforementioned zombies. Its damage dropoff also isn't ideal for many less experienced players to attempt to use on higher rounds. Let's not even forget that it doesn't hold a candle to any of the other Assault Rifles aside from its counterpart, too, right? In the end, it is the mediocrity of starting weapons that kills off the M14 in this position. At least it made E-Tier? #24: SKS According to my research, the SKS has identical stats to the M14. Thus, the only reason I have it ranked higher is because I personally prefer its design over the M14's. #23: F2000 And here is where I start to lose people. In my eyes, the F2000 is a bad weapon. If it were up to me, I'd probably shove it below the SKS, actually. However, I do have to acknowledge that it has boons to its bountiful flaws. I suppose I'll start with its high damage and high rate of fire: it puts out a lot of bullets at high power and high velocity. This means that, yes, it does indeed get plenty of kills very, very quickly. Due to this rate of fire, it also becomes a powerhouse with point gain, as it fires through several zombies at once, tearing up hundreds of points in mere seconds. However, the rest of the gun falls flat afterwards. The rate of fire is a double-edged sword: it means it chews through its rather small ammo pool very, very quickly. Being a box weapon, this means the F2000 only has the option to refill its ammo with Max Ammo drops, and nothing else. The F2000 also has a large model, blocking a rather large amount of the screen with its heftiness. Finally, the nail in its coffin for me is that it just doesn't truly hold up against the other full-autos and burst weapons in its class. They all have either the advantage of higher damage, more ROF control, or a larger pool of reserve ammunition. This means that the F2000, in my eyes, can't really compete with some of its competition in that pool of powerful weapons. In the end, sure, I have nitpicks with the F2000, but I feel they're justifiable as to why they make this gun a non-contender for a high spot. NOTE: From this point on in the rankdown, as I try to anticipate a redux prior to the next major update, I'm briefly summarizing my thoughts on each weapon and why it fits in there. 22-19 (D-Tier): Close, But Not Enough #22: Remington 870 I'll briefly summarize why this is here: the Remington has some decent power, is a wall buy, and has a good ammo pool. However, its clip size is low, and its damage is also not enough to make it viable for the long-term. #21: MP5 The MP5's high recoil and inconsistently controllable rate of fire means it chews through ammunition too quickly to warrant being a long-term solution. Its damage also suffers a large amount towards the late-game. #20: TEC-9 The TEC-9 has no options for refilling its ammo pool aside from Max Ammos, due to being a box weapon. It is fully automatic, with a high rate of fire, and I haven't been able to do enough testing on it to conclusively say if it's a better or worse weapon due to how quickly its ammo pool drains. #19: UMP 45 Debatably far worse. Will definitely tank to E-Tier in the next ranking. When the page itself says it's unreliable and a gun that costs the same amount a short ways away is better, you know you have a bad option. 18-15 (C-Tier): Early-Mid Use #18: USAS-12 Overall a more reliable option compared to the other shotguns. However, its ammo pool and quick dropoff means it couldn't ever hit higher than C-Tier, and the rest of the C-Tier guns find more use in my eyes. #17: M16A4 As stated prior, I'm not a huge fan of burst weapons because they drain the ammo pool so quickly. When the M16A4 doesn't really have a point where it's a great choice for a few rounds, it's not going to go far. Actually, in terms of box weapons, next to the F2000 and on occasion the USAS-12, I'd probably take anything else over it if it's a box-exclusive, even if I have them ranked lower on the list. #16: Glock 17 Good firepower. Great ammo pool. Lower clip size than I'd like, but nevertheless functional. One-tap to the head until around Round 12 IIRC, so it's fairly decent. Its falloff from there is fairly drastic, though, and as a box weapon its ammo pool can't be replenished. It's a good balance between the TEC-9 and Deagle, but it just doesn't have anything overly unique about it: nothing that really makes me think "wow, I wish I had that right now". #15: P90 High firerate. Big clip. Lots of reserve ammo. However, that fire rate combined with fairly low damage comes back to haunt you: you'll soon find yourself with nowhere to run and with very little ammunition overall. 14-11 (B-Tier): Borderline Use @ High Rounds #14: AS Val Not that much propelling it any higher than just inside top half for this ranking. It's just a viable weapon at the late-mid round segment and there's maybe even debatable function at higher portions of the game. The clip size and low damage is what hurts it the most, although the rate of fire helps out a lot by pumping round after round. If you're accurate, it's very useful. #13: AUG A3 Bad iron sights is what hurts the AUG the most for me, even if the rest of it isn't all that bad. However, it's not a great weapon in my playstyle, which I suppose subjectively makes it a B-Tier gun for me, even if for others it could hit S-Tier. Much like the Glock 17, nothing about it makes me think "I wish I had an AUG right now". #12: TMP Controversial pick as the best SMG, but I think it's justifiable. The TMP's fire rate is incredibly useful for a weapon like it. Really, the only thing keeping it from barely scratching its way into A-Tier is its inconvenient location. About 90% of my deaths are on those staircases, and the TMP being right at the bottom of one means I often end up screwing myself over trying to go for more. It serves its purpose well, but that location just neuters it heavily. #11: SL9SD Also debatable as to if it's A-Tier or not. However, it's like if the Black Ops 2 SMR was good. Great firepower, controlled firerate whether you want semi-auto or near-auto, and excellent reserve ammunition. I only worry whether it falls off too quickly or not for most people. It's functional, although not necessarily the best option. 10-7 (A-Tier): Viable High Round Options #10: Desert Eagle One-tap until around Round 19. High damage box weapon. Great for collateral kills. Downsides include fire rate, clip size, and ammo pool. Overall a good backup in the mid-late game, even if not always the best option for getting points or kills. #9: AWP Extremely powerful, decent ammo pool, but hindered by being a bolt-action. That combined with a low clip size doesn't allow me to put it any higher despite how useful I find the AWP to be. #8: AK-47 Very interchangeable with #7. Both have high ammo pools, high damage, and great firerates. Truly excellent weapons to take to high rounds, as they only suffer from being box weapons and thus not having a consistent ammo restock location. #7: HK416 Nearly identical to the AK-47, only boasting a higher firerate. However, I personally like the playstyle of the HK more than the AK, therefore it's been ranked higher. 6-3 (S-Tier): High-Round Gods #6: SCAR-HAMR Highly-coveted by players for its stellar ammo pool (both clip and reserve), high damage output, great rate of fire, fast reload (which matches those of assault rifles), and still being fairly lightweight. However, it falters due to having lower damage than its other LMG counterpart, as well as having much more recoil comparatively. #5: M249 SAW If I haven't lost you yet, I have by now by not putting this at #1. Highest damage in the game next to the Ray Gun, practically zero recoil, and great rate of fire, although it's all balanced out by slow reload times and low mobility, in which I believe it only outruns the AWP. Those two factors neuter it enough to where I don't personally believe it can outclass the other three guns I have yet to talk about on the list that aren't the Ray Gun. #4: AN-94 Abakan The second-best wall weapon in the game. High damage, great mobility, extremely effective overall. Again, the only thing working against the Abakan is that it's a burst weapon, which albeit useful in high rounds, doesn't make it as good as its wall competitor in lower rounds, where it wastes ammo when it only needs one bullet to kill. #3: Dragunov SVU If you can click LMB quick enough, it's quite literally an automatic sniper. EXCELLENT crowd cleaner, although its low ammo pool means it's not a great weapon for taking out individuals. I often use it if I'm feeling overwhelmed and want a small break. Great backup weapon for high rounds. 2-1 (S+-Tier): The Ray Gun & The Best Regular Gun #2: Ray Gun This is really a controversial choice to put here, as it's not #1, but honestly? Its competitor has so much more going for it in terms of ammunition. Sure, it has a lower damage output than the Ray Gun, but that damage is offset by BEING A WALL WEAPON. You can literally refill it whenever you need more. Actually, you all know why the Ray Gun is in S+. I should focus on justifying the... #1: SA58 OSW ...as the best gun in the game. Like I said, wall weapon, so you can replenish ammo whenever. It has a high fire rate, high damage, high mobility, and really lacks nothing for experienced users. The SA58 is hands-down the best gun in the game if you have the skill to use it. It's truly a beast. Summer Update Hype List: July 18th As we sit in anticipation of the new update, I'll be releasing a single cut every day, although unlike the first one, I won't be ranking these in Tiers, solely in the order of #28 to #1. #28: Beretta M9 (-1) #27: Ranger (-1) #26: M14 (-1) #25: SKS (-1) #24: UMP-45 (-5) #23: F2000 (+0) #22: MP5 (-1) #21: Remington 870 (+1) #20: USAS-12 (-2) #19: TEC-9 (+1) #18: M16A4 (-1) #17: AS Val (-3) #16: P90 (-1) #15: B93 Raffica (+13) #14: Glock 17 (+2) #13: TMP (-1) #12: AUG A3 (+1) #11: SL9SD (+0) #10: Desert Eagle (+0) #9: AWP (+0) #8: AK-47 (+0) #7: HK416 (+0) #6: AN-94 Abakan (-2) #5: SCAR-HAMR (+1) #4: M249 SAW (+1) #3: Ray Gun (-1) #2: Dragunov SVU (+1) #1: SA58 OSW (+0) Category:Blog posts